Comfort Food Recipe: Pumpkin Seed Kale Pesto on Brown rice pasta

Hello beauties,

I remember thinking that comfort food equated to the unhealthy, fattening kind of food. I feared comfort food like I fear margarine or mock-meat-burgers today. Guess what? You don’t have to be scared of “comfort food” if you are making the joyous-kind-of-comfort-food (and of course you move your body with regular exercise!).

So this past weekend I decided to lay low one night and make myself a comfort meal that was absolutely delicious, joyous-jammed with nutrients and tweet-worthy. It was warm, flavourful and very satisfying. I boiled some brown rice spaghetti and whipped up an awesome pesto with the bare essentials in my fridge. I created a meal that would make Chef Rocco of Enoteca Sociale jealous (my fave italian resto to Toronto!

Pumpkin Seed Pesto on Brown Rice (photo below)

When I cook, I hardly ever measure – so this is fair warning that if you make something like a pesto you’ve got to give it a little taste-test and add whatever you think it needs. However, the amounts below should be accurate.

Ingredients (Serves 2):

• 2 large black or green kale leaves, washed and removed from stem
• 2 handfuls of fresh peppery arugula (my FAVE leafy green). If you are lucky, you’ve picked it from your garden!
• 2 garlic cloves (antibacterial, antiviral, cholesterol-lowering superfoodgasmic)
• 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds (A dose of immune-enhancing zinc and protein)
• 2 gluggs of hemp seed oil or extra-virgin olive oil (good fat, not the kind that makes you fat)
• Healthy pinch of sea salt (dose of minerals) & freshly ground black pepper (good for digestion)

If you want to learn how to cook simply and deliciously, I do cooking demos and workshops for small and large corporations where I not only teach you how simple it is to make a meal like this, but also, you will learn ALL the health benefits of the food you can create. Your kitchen can actually be your pharmacy, how about that huh?

Have a beautiful day!

Joyous Nutritionist